Sutton and Sons Fish & Chips
The family ran a fishmonger on Stoke Newington High Street first, then opened the chip shop across the road and kept buying the same fish (Time Out).
Why go
The shop makes everything that matters. The chips are peeled and cut on site, the batter is a house recipe, and the counter carries Mrs Sutton's pickled quail eggs, red onion rings and balsamic baby shallots (Sutton & Sons). Buying direct from boats gives the kitchen fish a standard chippy cannot fry, so monkfish, Cromer crab and Maldon oysters sit on the menu with the cod and haddock. In March 2018 this branch launched the vegan menu that made the group's name, banana blossom marinated in seaweed and samphire, then battered and fried, with tempura prawns
made from potato (Sutton & Sons, Time Out). Banana blossom works because its layered petals shred along the grain the way cooked white fish flakes, and the seaweed cure supplies the salt and iodine the flesh would have carried.
Order this / avoid
- Order: battered monkfish, which Time Out called
very good indeed,
oysters or moules marinière alongside, and Mrs Sutton's sticky toffee pudding if any is left by the weekend (Time Out). - Avoid: the skate wing, "a little under-seasoned" on Time Out's visit.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out:
With monkfish, Maldon oysters and moules marinière on the menu, this is smarter than most chippies,
with batter described ascrisp.
4 - Time Out (13 March 2018): the vegan menu launched here first,
only available at Sutton and Sons in Stoke Newington.
5
Good to know
- Timing: Monday to Thursday noon to 10pm, Friday and Saturday to 10.30pm, Sunday to 10pm (Sutton & Sons).
- Booking: walk-in for takeaway; the flagship has a dining room and limited outside seating. Islington has a basement for private hire.
- Dietary: the venue publishes a full vegan menu and states its vegan fish is banana blossom marinated in seaweed and samphire. It publishes nothing about gluten, fryer separation or cross-contamination, so a celiac should phone the branch before ordering, whatever the apps say.
- Branches: this page is the Stoke Newington flagship at 90 Stoke Newington High Street. The others are 356 Essex Road, Islington and 218 Graham Road, Hackney Central.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Classic chippy
Verdict
could-visit — A chippy that owns the fishmonger across the street, cuts its own chips and mixes its own batter, and puts monkfish, Maldon oysters and moules on a menu next to cod and chips. Time Out rates the batter crisp and the monkfish very good indeed, and this is the branch where the banana blossom vegan fish started in 2018, which is a genuinely original piece of fry-shop cooking. It is not worth a trek across London, and near Stoke Newington it is the best version of the format.